


It Never Did Run Smooth

by Xanoka



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Based on a True Story, Bucky Barnes joins the Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Everything's Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, Ideal Future, Inadvertent thwarting, Kind of ignoring Civil War, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Recovery, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Shy Bucky Barnes, Slice of Life, Stucky - Freeform, Stucky Proposal, Super Soldier Proposal, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, cuteness, recovering Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 07:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8436742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xanoka/pseuds/Xanoka
Summary: Steve has something important to ask Bucky.  It's all going to be perfect.  If only a certain super soldier would stop trying to be so damn helpful...
In which Steve attempts to propose and is nearly thwarted at every turn.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually based on the proposal story of a couple I know. It was so cute, I just thought, Imagine your OTP!
> 
> I did, and this happened.
> 
> Apologies for my attempt at what I think a Brooklyn accent sounds like. I'd like to write more for this fandom, so pointers would be appreciated!

 

“Buck?  What’re you doing here?”

Bucky smiles slightly, not quite meeting his eye and holds up the sports bag at his side.

“I got your stuff.  So we can get on with this date, or whatever.”  His tone is trying hard to be dismissive, but there’s a hint of a smile curling around every word.  It would be adorable if not for one very crucial problem.

Steve clears his throat.

He’s fresh out of the shower after a workout.  Bucky’s been upstairs debriefing with Maria about yesterday’s solo mission (it’s his fifth and Steve’s so proud).  He wasn’t supposed to be finished for another half hour.  There was supposed to be time.

“Wow.  You, uh, brought everything?”

“Yup.”  Buck pops the ‘P’.

Not everything.  He can’t possibly have brought the secret ring box nestled at the bottom of Steve’s box of art supplies, right at the back of his closet. 

“My deodorant?”

“Got it.”

“Wait, did you bring my bike keys?”

Buck twirls them on his finger by way of reply.

“I brought three different shirts so you can choose, your favourite slacks, your pen for signings, your aftershave, changes of underwear, socks, your wallet, _everything_ , Rogers.  So quit worrying and get changed.”

Steve swallows around an irrational burst of panic.  He can work around this.  He’s Captain America, world renowned strategist.  He can make this work.

Out of the corner of his eye he spots his phone, mostly hidden under his discarded sweats.  It’s only visible to him from this angle.  Bucky won’t be able to see it.

“Oh, wait, Bucky.  Did you bring my phone?”

Bucky frowns.

“Your phone?  Don’t you have it with you?”

Steve shakes his head, focusing on not widening his eyes innocently, in what he has been assured is his obvious tell.

“No, Buck.  I left it in my room.”

Bucky looks slightly crestfallen, and Steve would feel bad, but he’s got more important things to worry about.  Life changing things.

“It’s OK, pal,” he continues blithely.  “Let me just get dressed.  I’ll get it on our way out.”

Bucky rolls his eyes and turns away as Steve starts to dress.  Since getting him back he’s come a long, long way, but he can still be surprisingly shy.  At least he’s still in the room this time.

“Seems dumb, goin’ up fifty floors then all the way down again.”

Steve hums in agreement as he rummages through the bag to choose his outfit.  Bucky has apparently packed half his wardrobe into the sports bag, folded with military precision.

Something warms in his chest as he pulls out his favourite blue shirt (a gift from Natasha; it matches his eyes). 

It’s such a Bucky gesture, so kind, so thoughtful.

So infuriating.

Finally dressed, he can’t help pulling Bucky into a one-armed hug, brushing his lips across his cheek.

“Thanks, buddy.  This’s nice of you.”

At such close range he can watch the faint blush blossom and spread across Bucky’s face.  But the corner of his lip twinges in the familiar smirk.

“’s nothin’.  Punk.”

And affection inflates his chest with confidence, like a balloon, squashing last minute nerves.

 “Jerk,” he replies.  “Hey, I got us a reservation at that bistro you like at two.  Want to take a walk round Central first?”

Bucky nods jerkily and Steve steps back.

“Great.  Let me just get my phone.”

They ride up the elevator in comfortable silence and Steve has to resist the impulse to toy with his phone, hidden in the deep pocket of his jacket now.

When the doors open for their floor, he can’t resist leaning over to peck Bucky on the cheek before winking.

“Be just a second!”

He loves seeing Bucky scowl.

It only takes a minute to retrieve the ring box from its temporary home.  He has to wipe his suddenly sweating palms on his slacks before picking it up and slipping it into his jacket pocket, swapping it with his iphone.

Feeling its weight settle against his side gives him an unexpected thrill, half fear half anticipation.  It’s a lot like receiving new orders for a mission.

“Got it!” he calls cheerfully, waving his phone as he rejoins Bucky.  Without thinking he throws an arm around Buck’s shoulder, and is pleasantly surprised to feel him lean back.

He grins wide and happy and kisses the side of Bucky’s head.

Today is going great!

 

* * *

 

Today is a nightmare.

“Buck.  What are you doing?”

Bucky looks up at him from where he’s standing by the door, playing with his phone, his jacket and Steve’s sweater draped over his arm.  Why is he standing by the door like he’s ready to leave?

“I paid already.  We can go.”

It’s because he _is_ ready to leave.

Steve feels a moment of total panic.

He’d just gone to the bathroom to compose himself and get the ring ready.  How had Bucky gathered their stuff, abandoned their beautiful, picture-perfect private balcony and paid for their meal and drinks in that time?  Damn his ultra-efficient super-soldier training!

“Buck,” he eventually manages.  “I didn’t finish my coffee.  Do you mind if we go back?”

Bucky’s looking at him strangely, brow furrowed in concentration.  He’s less easy to read than he used to be, so that look could be anything from self-flagellation for cutting short Steve’s coffee time, to fearing for his sanity.

“Sure, buddy.”

So back they go. 

Fortunately the waitstaff haven’t begun clearing the table yet.  Steve makes a mental note to give them an extra tip.

And he’s relieved to see there _is_ some coffee left in his cup.  Though Bucky gives him a dubious look Steve can’t blame him for.  It is hardly an amount worth insisting over.

Rather than acknowledging this, he smiles wide and bright.

“Great coffee here!”

As expected, Bucky turns his head to look at the view.  It’s as if he can’t look at Steve too long when he smiles.

 (“Like lookin’ at the sun.”  He’d said once, and Steve left it at that.)

So this is it.  The big moment.

Everything he has ever planned, every speech he has ever daydreamed deserts him, leaving his mind a pristine, blank void.

The silence must stretch, because Bucky is looking back at him with concern.

“You okay there, Steve?”

There’s a little groove between his eyes and plates in his left arm are shifting and clicking faintly, a sure sign of anxiety. 

He imagines Peggy’s voice in his ear, cool and amused.  _Well, that won’t do, Captain_.

“I love you!” he blurts out, and blushes to the roots of his hair.  Not.  Smooth.  At.  All.

But Bucky has relaxed and is smiling that soft, secret smile only Steve is ever privileged to see.

“Yeah?”  His voice is low and confiding, not that there’s anyone else there to hear.  “Love you too, pal.”

He hardly ever says it.  Hearing it now swells the bubble of affection in his chest until it almost fills his throat.  But at least the words are easy now.

“Yeah, Buck.  I do.  Feels like it’s been forever.  Since we were kids.”

Bucky nods and seems to accept it.  His memory is patchy, but he tells Steve snatches of important nothings all the time as they come to him.  ( _Making dens out of cushions on his mom’s floor, sweating together on the fire escape of their building, sharing a bed in winter_.)

“Hey – you remember Jimmy Allen?”

Bucky barks a laugh and nods.  “Kid who broke your nose?”

“Yeah,” Steve breathes, suddenly giddy with the memory.  “Yeah, you pulled him off of me.”

It wasn’t the first fight Bucky waded into for him, and definitely wasn’t the last.

Bucky grunts.  “Kicked his ass.  You must have been, what?  Twelve?”

Steve nods and grins.

“Yeah.  I remember cos he pushed me down in something that _stank_.  Buck, I _reeked_ all the way home.  And I remember lyin’ there, and I saw you, and I remember thinkin’ all a sudden.  I thought, there ain’t never been a guy like you.”

Bucky sighs suddenly, looking at him almost sadly.  “You were such a dumb punk, Stevie.  My Ma warned me about you, ya know?  Always gettin’ into trouble.”

“Still am, Buck.”

Bucky laughs again harshly.  “Ain’t that the truth.”

“It’s OK, though.  You’ve got my six, right?”  Bucky nods.  “And I got yours.” 

His heart is in his throat as he pulls out the ring.  He can see the exact moment Bucky figures out what’s happening.  His eyes widen and he doesn’t seem to be breathing.

“Till the end of the line, right Buck?”

Bucky’s eyes flicker from the ring to Steve’s face.  He hasn’t perceptibly moved, though his left hand seems to be crushing the fancy wrought iron handle of his chair.

Then something like determination firms the set of his jaw and he nods hard, like he’s accepting a mission.

“Yeah, Stevie.  Till the end of the line.”


End file.
